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French Petition Adds Fuel to Amazon Spat

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - An environmental spat between France and Brazil, rolling in
   questions about integrity, colonialism and Bic pens, shows signs of
   deepening with calls by dozens of French lawmakers and environmental
   groups to slap trade sanctions on Brazilian beef and soybeans.

   In a petition published Sunday in France's weekly Le Journal du
   Dimanche, the group also called on the European Union to suspend a
   recently agreed Mercosur trade deal with South America and take broader
   steps barring products issued from deforestation and other
   environmentally harmful activities from entering the European market.

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